Never Be In A Hurry


It’s an NFL stat that’s only been kept since 2016, so we don’t know exactly what it would have been in his prime, but Tom Brady is getting better with age in this category. Time to throw. Consistently among the league leaders in this metric (and most others actually) well into his 40s, Brady wastes no time getting the ball out of his hands after the snap. He can’t afford to. 

It’s no secret that Ageless Tom has slowed down, but somehow he keeps performing at an elite level while playing against pass rushers half his age. It’s because he compensates being slower with throwing faster. They say you can’t give him time or he’ll kill you, so the defence does all they can to take time away. However, knowing the game as he does, Tom decides to throw the ball sooner, killing the defence regardless of their hurry attempts. How’s a guy supposed to win more Superbowls if he’s always in a hurry? 

People can’t perform to their full potential when they’re in a hurry. Whatever plans that might be carefully drawn out for a play or a day or a transaction are nullified when hurry takes over. People being hurried is never the result of something good that’s happened. Most of the time, you hurry because the scenario you’re in is less than ideal because if it was ideal, why would you be in a hurry?

The only people who keep their dignity and authority when they’re in a hurry are emergency first responders. Even then, it’s pretty rare to see those guys act like they’re in a hurry. They’re trained to be calm and methodical and they recognize that abandoning protocol and hurrying a situation is less likely to save lives than sticking with proven procedures. It’s hard to trust someone who’s always in a hurry, but we trust the paramedics and the Bucs trust Tom.

Think of the last time you were in a hurry and how you felt. I’m willing to bet that anytime anyone has a reason to tell you to hurry up, you don’t feel great. I’m not here to say that you shouldn’t bother trying to get things done quickly and efficiently, but you should be doing whatever it takes to ensure you’re never in a rush. Sometimes being in a hurry is inevitable, life is crazy. Nevertheless, there is a solution to the problem of hurry and it’s called URGENCY.

When you see the firefighters show up first at a 4 car pileup, do they ever seem like they’re in a hurry to get people taken care of? No! But I guarantee it’s urgent. Urgency is the key to eliminating hurry in your life. Put simply, if you never want to be in a hurry, urgently line things up to make it impossible to be running behind. Notoriously, people will hurry out the door, hurry up and eat lunch, hurry down the highway, hurry a conversation and while doing so, intentionally or unintentionally neglect some rather important things. Things like knowing where your keys are, things like being safe on the road, keeping all your appointments organized or treating others with respect. Life is harder when you neglect those things and we know it, yet we don’t feel it’s urgent to avoid scenarios of hurry. What if we did? If you know every time you leave your house to go anywhere you tend to leave in a hurry, what if you made it urgent for yourself not to be? If you gave it a minute of thought, there could be 5 things easily done to eliminate the hurry out the door scenario. If it’s urgent, you’ll find a way, but not if you’re in a hurry.

One of the things that author Stephen Covey is known for is his 4 quadrants of time management. The 4 quadrants go like this:

  • Quadrant 1: Urgent and important.
  • Quadrant 2: Not urgent but important.
  • Quadrant 3: Urgent but not important.
  • Quadrant 4: Not urgent and not important.

Naturally, our time goes to quadrant 1, but he argues that we spend too much time in quadrant 3 and not enough time in quadrant 2. We do not spend enough time dealing with the things that are important, but not yet urgent. Since they are not urgent, many important things get neglected. More of our time is spent on matters we consider urgent but are really not that important. 

Our time is clearly consumed by everything we perceive as urgent, which is why creating and following through on habits to avoid being in a hurry must be classified as urgent. It’s important that Tom gets the ball up to his receivers, so instead of forcing his slow legs into hurry, he urgently throws the ball sooner. Don’t confuse being in a hurry with urgency. I strive to live an urgent lifestyle, but I’m never in a hurry. I can’t afford to be.

I can’t write sound contracts, book appointments and respond to messages in a hurry and get away with it for long. Something will be overlooked and someone will end up unhappy. It is very urgent that I’m not in a hurry to get the job done. If there’s any risk at all of being put in a hurry scenario, I urgently adjust until that risk is mitigated. Look at your days in the morning and weeks ahead, urgently plan them now so you’re not in a hurry later.

- Cody
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